Christmas and new year closure

Land Registry Services at 2 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne and 57 Cherry Lane, Laverton will close at 4.00 pm on 22 December 2017 and reopen at 8.30 am on Tuesday 2 January 2018.

Online services (LANDATA® and electronic lodgement through PEXA) will continue to be available during this period.

Customers with bulk lodgements or bulk payments will be offered access to the bulk baskets by Level 1 Security personnel.

Customer queries (telephone message or email) will be responded to when the office reopens on 2 January 2018.

Reminder that the transition period ends for use of 'all old' forms

The transition period for accepting forms not containing certifications ends on 31 December 2017.
All forms in paper signed on or after 1 January 2018 lodged for registration must be in the new form and non-compliant forms will not be accepted.

When a conveyancer or lawyer represents a party in the transaction, the form must:

be signed on behalf of the party by the conveyancer or lawyer

contain the certifications required by the Registrar's requirements for paper conveyancing transactions.

The Registrar of Titles has determined version 4 of the Registrar's Requirements for Paper Conveyancing Transactions under section 106A of the Transfer of Land Act 1958. Version 4 of the Registrar's Requirements comes into operation on 14 December 2017 and you can view these here with changes marked-up

Amendments were made to incorporate the following updates:

reflecting more of the timelines for the transition to 100% digital lodgment

to include the new requirements for creating restrictive covenants in transfers and restrictions in plans

SPEAR Electronic Lodgment Network pilot update

The SPEAR Electronic Lodgment Network pilot program commenced in May 2017 following determination of Version 1 of the SPEAR Electronic Lodgment Network Participation Rules by the Registrar of Titles in April.

Eight organisations - including solicitors, conveyancers and government bodies - registered for the pilot and have begun processing applications in SPEAR for plans under the Subdivision Act 1988 - 34 have already been lodged.

System enhancements are planned in response to feedback from pilot participants. Land Use Victoria (LUV) plans to expand the SPEAR ELN by the end of 2018 to cater for electronic lodgment of survey-based applications under the Transfer of Land Act1958.

The benefits to lodging parties using the SPEAR ELN include:

the ability to electronically complete, validate and lodge application forms

no need to attend LUV in person to lodge applications

improved access to application documents and details of Land Use Victoria requisitions

instant notification of new title allocations upon registration.

The pilot period will end on 31 December 2017. LUV will accept applications from all lodging parties to become a SPEAR ELN Subscriber from 2 January 2018. Information about registering will be published on the SPEAR website (www.spear.land.vic.gov.au) at that time.

Electronic service of court documents

The Warrants Officer will then reply by email acknowledging their receipt.

Any document required by a rule of court to be served upon the Registrar of Titles will be accepted by email. This is irrespective of any mode of service that a rule of court might require.

For example, if a rule of court requires an originating process to be served personally on the Registrar of Titles, the Registrar of Titles will accept it by email at the above address. For these purposes, a court is regarded as a court of competent jurisdiction and includes the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.